Politics

Talk Of Zombies Aside, Gun Bills Face Political Reality

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy holds a hearing on gun control on March 7. The committee has since passed two bills on guns that are headed to the full Senate.

Two more gun control bills are heading to the Senate floor after narrowly winning approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The legislation requiring background checks for nearly all gun sales will likely face stiff opposition in its current version, but it's the second proposal, banning assault weapons, that may get particularly heated push back from lawmakers.

Maybe if zombies attacked, you might need a semiautomatic assault weapon for self-defense. That was one concession Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was willing to make this week when the Senate Judiciary Committee was debating the assault weapons ban. But short of an entire zombie takeover, Leahy says, he's always been perfectly satisfied with his .45-caliber at home.

"Even when we had people escaping from prison announcing they were going to kill me, I felt pretty comfortable with that," he said.

Of course, what's a legislative debate without a few extreme examples? Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, joined in when he said that taking assault weapons away from law-abiding citizens would leave them outgunned by criminals.

"We're going to give the American citizen a pea shooter to defend themselves with," he argued.

Pea shooters and zombies depict a scenario that seems almost a planet away from the murders in Newtown, Conn., that launched these legislative efforts. Democrats in favor of the assault weapons ban, like Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, aren't deluding themselves about the political realities.

"Realistically, the assault weapons ban faces a very steep uphill climb," he said this week."But nothing is impossible after Newtown, which so powerfully changed things. We are all different after Newtown."

Still, the National Rifle Association has made clear that it will oppose any assault weapons ban. So Blumenthal and his allies say they have greater hopes for a separate provision within the bill — one that bans high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Colorado's gun control supporters won a big victory yesterday, when the state legislature passed a bill requiring universal background checks for gun sales. The legislation is now headed to Governor Hickenlooper for his signature. In the U.S. Senate, two gun control bills are on their way to a full vote. This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved legislation that would require background checks for nearly all gun purchases. And that bill will likely face stiff opposition in its current version.

But as NPR's Ailsa Chang reports, it's the other proposal, one that bans assault weapons that will likely get the most opposition from lawmakers.

AILSA CHANG, BYLINE: Maybe if zombies attacked, you might need a semiautomatic assault weapon for self-defense. That was one concession Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont was willing to make this week when the Senate Judiciary Committee was debating the assault weapons ban. But short of an entire zombie takeover, Leahy says he's always been perfectly satisfied with his .45 caliber at home.

SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY: Even we had people escaping from prison announcing they were going to kill me, I felt pretty comfortable with that.

CHANG: Of course, what's a legislative debate without a few extreme examples. Republican John Cornyn of Texas was also up to the task when he argued: If you take assault weapons away from law-abiding citizens, they'll be outgunned by criminals.

SENATOR JOHN CORNYN: And we're going to give the American citizen a pea shooter to defend themselves with.

CHANG: Pea shooters and zombies, a scenario that seems almost a planet away from the murders in Newtown that launched these legislative efforts. Democrats in favor of the assault weapons ban, like Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, aren't deluding themselves about the political realities.

SENATOR RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: Realistically, the assault weapon ban faces a very steep uphill climb. But nothing is impossible after Newtown, which so powerfully changed things. We are all different after Newtown.

CHANG: Still, the National Rifle Association has made it clear it will oppose any assault weapons ban. So Blumenthal and his allies say they have greater hopes for a separate provision within the bill, one that bans high-capacity ammunition magazines.